(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures rose on Wednesday, with Nike bringing cheer to markets after it reported better-than-expected results, while investors awaited more economic data for hints on the path of future interest rate hikes.
Nike Inc jumped 12.6% in premarket trading after it reported its best quarterly revenue growth in more than a decade barring one quarter and handily beat profit expectations, as North American shoppers rushed to stock up on sneakers and sportswear before the holidays.
FedEx Corp, which sparked a market selloff in September by pulling financial forecasts, rose 4.7%, after the delivery company said it will slash an additional $1 billion in costs.
“We had some better news from the likes of Nike yesterday, which suggested that consumer sentiment and spending was holding up,” said Stuart Cole, head macro economist at Equiti Capital.
“With equities so low, and having suffered so much this year, I think investors are increasingly willing to jump onto any glimmers of hope that the worst may be behind us now.”
Wall Street’s main indexes closed slightly higher on Tuesday, following early losses as Treasury yields jumped after the Bank of Japan’s surprise monetary policy tweak.
Fears about the U.S. central bank’s plan to keep raising interest rates have weighed heavily on equities since its policy meeting last week, despite signs of cooling inflation.
December’s consumer confidence survey due at 10 a.m. ET is expected to show a marginal improvement in business conditions at 101.0 from 100.2 a month ago, while existing home sales are expected to fall 5.4% in November, lower than the 5.9% fall a month ago.
Other data expected through the week on core inflation and the labor market will likely determine the future course of interest rate hikes by the Fed.
At 6:10 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 233 points, or 0.7%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 20 points, or 0.52%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 47 points, or 0.42%.
Tesla Inc’s shares added 1.9% after tumbling to a fresh two-year low in the previous session. Billionaire Elon Musk said he will step down as Twitter CEO once he finds a replacement.
Market volumes are expected to decline this week before the Christmas and New Year holidays.
(Reporting by Shubham Batra and Amruta Khandekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
